Court tells BP to keep paying for Deepwater Horizon spill

The US Supreme court says businesses affected by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill will continue to receive compensation from BP PLC, while the oil and gas giant appeals the terms of its settlements in court.

June 12, 2014
by Hazmat Management

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The US Supreme court says businesses affected by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill will continue to receive compensation from BP PLC, while the oil and gas giant appeals the terms of its settlements in court.

BP officials have questioned a lack of proof from certain businesses that claim to have been negatively affected by the nearly five-million-barrel spill, particularly ones without connections to fisheries — one of eight groups of individuals and businesses set out in the March 2012 agreement to settle claims from the massive spill known as Deepwater Horizon.

While BP first estimated the claims would cost the company $7.8 billion, it later argued that the agreement was skewed, unjustifiably adding billions extra. Examples cited by BP include a wireless communications company that burned down and an RV park shuttered before the spill.

BP heads to trial in January 2015 in New Orleans to determine how much the company owes in federal Clean Water Act fines.